Archery and Bowhunting tips, Gear Reviews and News

Are you looking for archery tips that will really improve and up your game? Then you’re at the right place at the right time, I suppose. You’re working day and night to improve your archery skills and we all do. Archery is a sport where you constantly need to work on your game so you can maintain it and improve it.

Let’s say you build a house? Where do you start from? Rooftop? Obviously not. You start from the foundation, the basics, so that leads to our archery tip number one, one of many archery tips you will read below.

Foundation and basics

This tip can not only apply to archery but in everything, you do in life. Having a great foundation and basics will give you a real edge when it comes to improving your shooting, accuracy and overall your skills.

Having a poor stance can make a huge difference when you’re trying to hit the bull’s eye or hunt down that deer or elk. You can find more about the stance by clicking here.

We run over the basics on our “How to shoot a compound bow” article, you can find some great archery tips in there as well, so make sure you check it out.

What draw weight is for you?

Have you figured out what draw weight is for you, and what draw weight suits you the best? If you haven’t you should start exploring. It’s extremely important to test out and experience different draw weights.

Why?

Because it will give you a better insight when you experience the difference between draw weights, first hand.

Usually, the draw weight order goes like this:

For hunters:

40 lbs – 45lbs draw weight, for deer, elk or turkey.

For large hunting game (grizzly bear, fox, cape buffalo) 55 lbs and more.

For target practice bow any draw weight can do the job, starting from 25 lbs.

And if you plan on using the bow for hunting and target practice or as a recreational archer, 40 lbs of draw weight can do the job.

Follow trough

Follow trough is a key element when performing the shoot and this is one of the fundamental and basic steps to master, but many people seem to skip it over. Practice keeping your sight on the arrow as you release up to the point where it hits the target. That will improve follow trough and ultimately improve your accuracy and shooting.

Don’t hold too long

Many pros will tell you to not hold too long? And who can give a better advice than a professional archer?

The best solution to find the middle is to hold between five to seven seconds.

Or, another effective way is to exhale as you draw the bow, take a full breath as you reload it into the cam’s wall at anchor point and then reload the trigger. As you reach that point, hold it five to seven seconds before you release.

It’s easier said than done, but practice makes it perfect.

Every shot should count, especially the first one

If you’re bow hunter this should really consider you. When you’re hunting you want the first shot to be decisive, because if you miss, you rarely or never get a second chance to have a clear shot.

That’s why you need to practice a lot. Visualization is a great tool to use when you’re practicing.

When you’re at a target practice, visualize you’re in a hunting scenario, having a clear, perfect shot and taking advantage of it.

As time goes by and you advance, increase the distance, make it harder for yourself.

Improve your physical condition

Another tip for the bow hunters. When you’re hunting you will most likely have to go trough a difficult terrain. Being physically fit and conditioned improves the overall performance of the brain which is really important to archery. Maybe you need to climb a tree, or jog a little bit, being fit can make the difference, not to mention the other benefits you gain. Thus, the more physically fit you are, the less tired you get. That will allow you to go on foot much longer.

Have a sidekick

Batman had Robin, Sherlock Holmes had Dr. John Watson as a sidekick. Many hunters go solo, but having a partner or a sidekick while you’re hunting can be really productive. Of course, you’ll have to take the proper sidekick to make the difference.

Of course, you’ll need time to build chemistry and cohesion, but it will be a big bonus when you go on a hunting streak.

Shoot in a kneeling position

You never know what the situation may bring especially when you’re hunting and that’s why you have to be ready in any scenario. Practice shooting accurately from a kneeling position. You may have to improvise and adjust when the situation is given and you have to react fast. Kneeling also makes a great camouflage because it hides the human shape.

Hit the ground

As we mentioned above you can’t predict what the hunting game may bring you and that’s why you need to stay ready. Having a great ground blind on your menu can be a big advantage for you in the hunting process. Or another variation may be the gillie suit. Gille suit is a great replacement for the ground blind.

So if you don’t happen to have a ground blind, gillie suit can get the job done.

Don’t grip the handle

This is another basic and fundamental step, but many people seem to avoid it. Keeping the grip tight on the handle may throw off your shot due to the muscle tension. What you want to do is to keep your fingers relaxed as possible. As time goes by you will notice an improvement in the accuracy as you keep your fingers relaxed.

Having your muscles under high tension muscles is never a good thing in archery and that leads to our next tip.

Relax for a few seconds

We mentioned few tips back to not hold for too long, in the last tip we mentioned not to grip the handle due to high tension. It’s really obvious that tension is an obstacle and challenge to improve your archery.

Don’t get caught up in arrow speed and how close are your sight pins together because you end up using too much poundage, power, and tension.

Don’t fight to pull the bow back, as you reach full draw, stop to relax the shoulder muscles. Flexed and tensed shoulder muscles can throw the shot off.

Practice relaxing when you’re at full draw, this will drastically improve your accuracy over time

Have a good form

All of these archery tips are important and some of them are meant for either advanced or novice or someone in the middle, but this one applies to every archer, doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or advanced, recreational archer or hunter. Having a good form is extremely important especially in hunting. And what does good form mean?

Start with the feet and the stance. Having a good stance is the fundamental part of having a good form.

Relaxed fingers

Having anchor points

Release

Check for proper arrow spine

What you need to do before shooting is to check the proper arrow spine. Why is this important? Because if you have an arrow that’s too soft or too weak then you’re going to get more tension on the arrow than you need, and you won’t have the same flight as you would with a proper arrow spine. While having a proper arrow spine, the arrow will come off straight with a better speed and you will have an overall proper shooting and accuracy.

Comfortable stance

Having a comfortable stance can make it or break it. Whether you’re at the target practice or on the hunt. Of course, there will be exceptions when you’re going to have to shoot from a bad position, angle and not have a comfortable stance. But try to position yourself properly with a comfortable stance, this will slightly increase your chance to hit the target.

Feet shoulder width apart

Shoulders square perpendicular to the target

Smooth grip

Focus on a point when you aim at the target

Check your stance

Focus on a small target point

This tip can really improve your accuracy and hunting. You can’t predict the scenarios when you’re hunting, the given position, timing, etc. When you’re at the target practice, focus on the small target point and try to hit it as many times as possible.

Why?

Because it’s a similar thing when you’re out on the field and hunting. You do not focus on the whole animal itself, but you focus on a certain point, imagine a bull’s-eye.

That’s why you should focus on a small target point when you’re practicing, visualizing and putting yourself in a similar scenario.

Straight backhand

Small details can make a difference in almost everything, but especially in archery. Always make sure that your hand comes straight back. If you’re having a difficult time with that, you will most likely get poor results and a missed shot.

Practice this technique and watch your shooting improve as time goes by.

Use one or two arrows at a time

When you’re shooting and practicing your accuracy tries to use one or two arrows at a time. Especially if you’re having trouble and struggling with accuracy and consistency.

But how can one or two arrows at a time help my accuracy and consistency?

Good question. Because you’re using your muscles over and over again, you’re not giving the muscles a chance to take a break, and recuperate. That way your muscles tire up and that is the point where you develop bad habits in your shooting. Using one or two arrows at a time when you’re practicing will help you keep your muscles as rested as possible.

Make sure your bow is in tune

Going to your local archery shop might not be always the best solution. Knowing how to tune a bow is a big advantage you should have.

Establishing touch points in your anchor point

This was mentioned in our article on, how to shoot a compound bow. This is a great tip for beginners but can help out hunters too. The more touch points you have, the better. Usually, touch points start from the nose, the corner of the mouth, and hand behind the jaw. That is three touch points. Make sure you practice this a lot, make sure you perform it smoothly and effectively.

Positioning and muscle tense

This is such a small element that people barely notice it, but makes a lot of difference when it comes to shooting and accuracy. When you’re at a full draw and your muscles around your wrist and hand are tensed up, that can affect when you’re anchoring.

You will notice the difference between shooting with tensed muscles and relaxed muscles.

Another thing, be aware of positioning your hand with the release. Changing the positioning can also impact the shot.

Have a good backdrop

When you’re a beginner and just starting out with archery it’s really important to have a good backdrop, because you will practice a lot and proportionally you will miss a lot. The arrows cost a lot and that’s where having a good backdrop can come in handy. It will save you time, money and frustration. You don’t want to lose arrows and spend money buying new ones.

Stretch out the distance

After some time, you practiced a lot, you improved. You’re comfortable with your form and bow. You aim, you shoot and you hit the right spot, over and over again. What you need to do next to improve your archery skills it to stretch out the distance. It’s time to set up your 30-yard pin and 40-yard pin and even beyond that up to 50 yards. This may not be best for hunting, but when it comes to plain practice you should and must try it. Because when you’re good at 50 yards, imagine what can you do from 20 yards.

Confidence

Being confident can really help you to improve your archery, and one way to gain confidence is by practice. And one way is to stretch out the distance like we mentioned in the tip above. Hitting the right spot from 50 yards out can really grow your confidence.

Shoot from an elevated position

After the improvement is noticeable, you shoot accurate, you feel confident, you need one try to improve one more thing before you hit the terrain and start hunting. When you’re hunting you will most likely climb a tree. Now what you want to do is role play a similar position, imaginable scenario. Shoot from a balcony, rooftop or tall porch or anything that will get you elevated. Because it’s totally different, shooting from a ground and shooting from an elevated position. Practice that way, after you hit several times the right spot, you are ready to go.

Bend the waist

This is an extremely important tip when you’re in a hunting situation, climbed on a tree. The dynamics are totally different and many people make the mistake of dropping the bow and turning the head. And that might cause issues with the sight alignment. Instead bend at your waist as much as you can (This might require yoga practice as well, exclude this from the archery tips) especially when it’s a difficult angle.

Safety tip: Use harness

This one is for the hunters. As we mentioned above, you can exactly predict what the hunting scenarios may get you in. So if you find yourself climbed at the top of a tree, make sure you use a harness. Shooting from a tree can be really difficult if you don’t use a harness, and believe that it’s hard to balance and it may get you in trouble, safety first. Also, when you’re shooting from a tree with a harness you can lean in a bit, giving you an advantage and a better angle and shot.

Practice shooting in low light

For the 100th time in this article of archery tips, you can’t predict the situation in hunting. Most likely when you’re hunting it will be in a broad daylight. But practice shooting when the daylight is closing in, just to feel the situation and how difficult is to shoot when the light is almost out.

GO ALL IN!

If you happen to have a friend who is also interested in archery, heck he doesn’t even need to be interested in archery. Make a small bet with him, just to test your nerves at full draw (You might make some money on the way). Making a similar scenario when you’re shooting and the nerves are spiking.

Practice in hunting situations

If you use a bar stool when you’re hunting, practice shooting with the same bar stool in the yard. If you shoot from a tree, practice shooting from an elevated position. Build your form and technique around your bar stool or elevated position. Practice makes it perfect.

Stay in form

After the hunting season, many archers lay down their bows, they hardly even touch them and just forget about them, they don’t keep up with the training, archery tips. They are distracted by the daily activities and other hobbies. And this where the struggle begins at the start of the next hunting season. What you need to do is practice from time to time during the off-season. That will keep your muscle memory intact, confident and consistent trough out the off-season.

Blind bale

Blind bale shooting can bring your archery to a whole other level. Blind bale shooting is also extremely good for those who have or had target panic. It makes sure you go trough the execution of the shot without worrying where your arrow hits. So what you want to do is:

Have the target at point-blank range, fairly level with your full draw

Concentrate on your proper grip

Anchor your knot

Concentrate on your shot

Don’t worry where the arrow will hit

This will develop your muscle memory, it will make you a better archer without a doubt.

Don’t trade accuracy for speed

Always go for accuracy over speed. Favor accuracy at all times.

33. Aim before you draw

As the title says clearly, aim before you draw. Don’t draw then aim. Start aiming before you draw and keep on aiming as you go. Focus on the target and technique, make sure you perform the shot correctly. And make sure you’re not over correcting.

Patience and timing

This tip applies as a life tip as well, not only for archery and hunting. But! Patience is a key element when you’re hunting, I might add timing as well. Being patient and not let nerves get you can make a big difference when you’re hunting.

Learn from your mistakes

If you happen to miss the target, let it go. Don’t hold on the moment, put on the next arrow and try your best to hit the correct shot next time. Try to notice where are you making a mistake and correct it. And remember, mistakes are the stepping-stones to learning.

Scout your spots

Nothing beats being prepared and knowing your environment. Before you actually go hunting, scout the terrain, do some planning. This will largely increase the chance of having a successful hunt.

The wind is your best ally

Master the art of the wind. Because hunting with bad winds will drastically decrease your chance of having a successful hunt. Hunt wisely and learn more about scent control.

Practice one thing at a time

If you’re having an issue with your stance, feet placement, accuracy. Don’t practice all of them at once, and don’t try to use all the archery tips at once. Instead, try master each component step by step. Make sure your stance is and feet placement is fixed before you continue working on your other weak sides.

Take your time

You won’t improve your stance, shooting, accuracy and skills over time. As everything else archery more or less takes years of hard work and development to reach a point where you are a highly skilled archer.

Improve all the time

Even if you have years in archery and you are a skilled bow hunter. Try these archery tips, look at some videos, practice. Always look for ways to improve yourself.

Wrap

And those were our 40 archery tips to improve your hunting and shooting game. Hopefully, you find this article helpful and comment below with your own archery tips or what did you do to improve your game.

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